Billups' status is game-day decision

Published 4:00 am, Friday, May 9, 2008

Chauncey Billups spent almost all Wednesday night in the trainer's room. He was there Thursday, when the rest of the Pistons took the court to practice. And he'll be there most of today, too.

"He's going to have stuff he's never seen before," said Arnie Kander, Detroit's strength and conditioning coach. "We're going to hit him with a barrage of different things - we're going to do 7-8 treatments a day, pretty much around the clock.

"The goal is Saturday, and that's what we'll do. Get him ready for Saturday."

That's when the Pistons resume their Eastern Conference semifinal series with the Magic in Game 4 in Orlando. Detroit leads the best-of-seven series 2-1.

Billups sustained the first hamstring strain of his 11-year NBA career in Detroit's loss to the Magic on Wednesday after getting tangled up with Jameer Nelson under the basket. Nelson's foot caught Billups', and the Pistons guard's legs split open and he fell to the floor. That was four minutes into the game, and Billups didn't return.

"It's feeling sore, kind of similar to last night," Billups said Thursday.

He and the Pistons said he'd be a game-time call.

"That's going to be a decision Arnie and him are going to have to make," Detroit coach Flip Saunders said. "If he's ready to go, he's going to play. If he doesn't go, it's more than likely that he's not going to be able to function at a high enough percentage to where it's going to matter if he plays or not."

Kobe tops All-NBA team: Kobe Bryant added another honor to go with his MVP award, becoming the only unanimous selection to the All-NBA team.

Bryant was voted to the first team for the third straight season and sixth time in his career. He led the Lakers to the best record in the Western Conference and was presented with the MVP trophy Wednesday before helping Los Angeles to a 120-110 victory over Utah in Game 2 of the conference semifinals.

"We're on the same page ... because we want to sign Antawn. We want to sign Gilbert," Grunfeld said. "I kind of liked it. He's supportive of his teammate. And he enjoys playing with Antawn. And that's been our plan all along. I'm glad to see everyone in the organization is on the same page."

Briefly: Kiki Vandeweghe became the Nets' general manager less than six months after being hired as a special assistant to team president Rod Thorn. Vandeweghe replaces Ed Stefanski, who left in midseason to become the general manager of the 76ers. ... Former Jazz player personnel director Troy Weaver is the new assistant general manager of the Sonics, replacing Scott Perry, who spent one season with Seattle before recently returning to the Pistons as their vice president of basketball operations.